Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

abdication

(Encyclopedia)abdication, in a political sense, renunciation of high public office, usually by a monarch. Some abdications have been purely voluntary and resulted in no loss of prestige. For instance, Holy Roman Em...

Ward, William George

(Encyclopedia)Ward, William George, 1812–82, English Roman Catholic apologist, educated at Oxford. He became (1834) a fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and was ordained in the Church of England. At first a Broad...

Ksar el Kebir

(Encyclopedia)Ksar el Kebir ksär ĕl kĕbĭrˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 107,065), N Morocco. The name also appears as Alcazarquivir and Al Qasr al Kabir. Near the city on Aug. 4, 1578, the Moroccans soundly defeated...

Henry I, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Henry I, c.1008–1060, king of France (1031–60), son and successor of King Robert II. To defend his throne against his mother, his brothers Robert and Eudes, and subsequently against the count of B...

Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego

(Encyclopedia)Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego dyāˈgō o͞ortäˈdhō dā māndōˈthä [key], 1503—75, Spanish poet, historian, and statesman, b. Granada. An ambassador of Charles V to England and Venice and at the C...

Sannazaro, Jacopo

(Encyclopedia)Sannazaro, Jacopo yäˈkōpō sän-nätsäˈrō [key], 1456?–1530, Italian humanist. He lived briefly (1501–4) in France, a follower of the exiled Frederick III of Naples. On Frederick's death, he...

Breuer, Lee

(Encyclopedia)Breuer, Lee,1937-2021, American theater director, b. Philadelphia, PA, as Esser Leopold Breuer. Theatrical director and cofounder of experimental theater troupe, the Mabou Mines, along with composer ...

Hesse

(Encyclopedia)Hesse hĕs, hēsˈē, hĕsˈə [key], Ger. Hessen, state, 8,150 sq mi (24,604 sq km),...

Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish

(Encyclopedia)Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish, that part of the Low Countries that, from 1482 until 1794, remained under the control of the imperial house of Hapsburg. The area corresponds roughly to modern Belgi...

Leochares

(Encyclopedia)Leochares lēŏkˈərēz [key], fl. 4th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor, probably an Athenian. Leochares was associated in the decoration of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. He is known to have made portrai...